Answers

Will,

It sounds to me that you are just getting into the chicken business.
If this is the case, and I were in your shoes - I would not start out
with 100 chicks. That is a lot of chickens. When I started I would
get 25. This amount is a way to get to know chickens and figure out
what works. (I know other people will have other ideas)

This last summer we lost some chickens to dogs so my wife ordered 50
chicks. At the time I thought that was a lot. (I have raised
chickens before) It turned out to be about the most I want to handle
at one time. I have an old stock tank which I have put wire over and
divided it in half with wire to make two areas for poultry. I hung a
heat lamp in each each area. It is about a 6-7 ft. stock tank and
works great. This serves as my brooder. 50 chicks were just about
right.

I have just finished up butchering those that I planned to. I may
get 50 chicks again - but believe me that's a lot of chiks.

Will, what are you planning on doing with 100 chicks? If you are
raising them for family egg and meat consumption, don't buy 100 at a
time. Do them in groups of 25. It is much easier and economical
also. You should see your feed bill with 100 layers/broilers! Also,
remember that come butchering time that is a lot of chickens to do at
one time -- especially if you are new at chicken butchering.

As for brooding, I use a large plastic children's swimming pool. I
line it with litter and hang a lamp above it. The pool keeps the
chicks in a circular pattern so no one gets in the corners and
trampled and killed, plus it gives them a bigger area to explore and
get a way from the light if it is too much heat. Also allows for
plenty of room for the waters and feeders. It is also a breeze to
clean! You just either dump or scoop out the old litter, hose the
whole thing down and put in new litter. Easy storage and
economical!

Carla Emery's Encyclopedia is the best to explain all of your
questions! It also has hundreds of pages of other info. on numerous
back to basics type skills. I just love the book and know that
others around here have mentioned it too. I will go get
mine....walk, walk, walk,.....Hmmmm...says that a 250 watt infrared
lamp suspended above the floor level 18 inches will brood 75 chicks.
If you are using a cardboard box it says that a cardboard box 30
inches square with high sides(so they don't escape:~)), in a room
where the temp. will stay above 65 F, with a 69 watt bulb will handle
50 chicks. Ideal is a 6 foot by 8 foot space for 100 chicks she
says. You start the heat out at about 95 F and then decrease the
temp. by 5 degrees each week until you have them at 70 on the 6th
week. This time of year you will need to keep them in a barn or the
house. Usually chicks are started in the spring. Will be trickier
in the winter. I kept 100 chicks in a huge round cattle trough with
wood shavings in the bottom. I suspended a heat lamp across the top
hung on a broom handle. It works well, because if they are cold they
will get right under the light and if they are hot they will be
around the edges. It would be best, when you start, to suspend the
lamp to about a foot and a half from the floor of the brooder and
then raise it as you go. That is what changes the temp. of the
brooder. ( The height of the lamp) Be careful that the lamp does not
get knocked down on the litter. I would find some heavy duty
protection for them until they are well feathered and about half
grown. This will take about 8 weeks or more this time of year
depending on the type of chicks. Another thing to consider is the
color of the chicks. Black chicks absorb the heat better and don't
need it as warm as their white or brown buddies. In fact you can
hurt the black breeds by getting it too hot. I raise Buff Orpingtons
and all sorts of mutts too. The black ones lay better in the winter
and the buffs lay better in the summer. Another thing....I don't use
newspapers alone on the bottom of the box because it can cause them
to have problems with their legs. If you have plenty of newspapers
and want to use them just be careful to shred the top layer of
newspapers so that it gives them better traction on the papers. Their
fragile legs spraddling apart is what causes the trouble) I use
cheapo paper toweling on top of the newspapers when I only have a few
chicks in a box. Easier to clean up after too. You can use straw,
rice hulls, newspapers, wood chips, etc.....

We must have all posted our replies at the same time. I have to
admit that I thought that 100 sounded like a lot of chicks to me
too. I have ended up with that many a few times after chick day(ones
left over after we gave them away at the feed store). I usually get
25pullets about every 3rd year. That is enough to have eggs for an
army. Oh...another thing...straight run does NOT mean that you will
get a 50/50 chance for hens! They sex the pullets out of the batch
and then whatever is left is the straight runs. We get straight run
for chick day and I would say that you would be lucky to get 25%
hens. Some places that we have ordered from were almost all Roosters!
If you want hens it is to your benefit to order pullets. If you want
to butcher most of them then straight run is great!

i do better with 1-200 at a time i use a floor brooder and a building
area that will be large enough when the chicks grow a short 1 foot
barier will hold them in the hot area close to the brooder for about a
week then when they start flying over it remove it they will move
close when the temps are cool and spread out as temps rise during the
day a thermostat on the brooder will keep it from breaking you at the
bank in electric costwhen they reach an almost fryer size start
butchering butcher as you use them then either mass butcher and stuff
them in the freezer or keep them on a maintenence ration as you kill a
few at a time ,for some reason i loose more chicks in the small 25-50
batches that i want special care for ,oh guinys are more agresive and
should be seperated from chicks younger than them and turkies are less
agresive than chickens.my main problem sems to be keeping them enough
room moving them to larger pens to give them plenty of room and they
grow to shoulder to shoulder in no time even with butchering as they
grow well good luck have feeders and waterers that will keep plenty
of feed in front of them at all timesso the strongest and weekest have
all the feed they want otherwise the week just get weeker and grow
poorly at best or die and i want to eat healthy happy animals

Well... This is in part why I asked the question about how much
brooder space I would need. I was thinking of getting the best deal
by not paying partial box fees, and going straight run. The birds
that go for meat (including heavy breed cockrels), I'd stick out in
pastured poultry pens. Then I would sell the extra hens / roosters
that I didn't need. This might help someone in my area that couldn't
find decent heavy breed chickens - like myself.

But it does appear unamious that 100 chics the first go round may be
too ambitious... And that I may want to consider ordering sexed
chics.

Sounds like I may have a problem cleaning the swimming pool, since
the only spaces I can use for brooding have standard sized doors or
smaller.

Also, I believe that I will go ahead and revitalize my old tobacco
barn as a place to brood / house my chics / chickens atleast until
spring. It is about the only place that I have for the forseeable
future.

Thanks again for all the feedback. I am printing it out and reading
over it now!